Sharp County record., 1887-12-01
TALMAGFS SERMON.
A Practical Discourse on Parental
Duty and Responsibility.
The Dangerous Results Of Extreme IN
diligence and Unwise Severity C'H-
trasted-Diyine Hints Which "a
rents should Take Note Of'

Tabernacle was parental BlunderS'
His text was:
He fell from OF the seat backward by the slle
of-ba e,a+e and his neck brake, and ne dIed:
for he was IN old man, and heavy Sanuei
iv i.
ID. Talmage said: This is the end OF
long story of parental neglect. Judge Eli
was q GOOD man, but he let his two boys
ETonbni and Phinehas, do as they pleased,
and through overinduIgence they went 10
min The blind old Judge, ninety -elght
1-oors Of age. is seated at the gate waiting
for the news of an important battle IN
which his two sons were at the front. An
a,-nrass IS coming with tidings from the
bo+tIa This blind uoaagenarian puts ms
hand bcbiud his ear and listens, ana
cries: What meaneth the noise OF Uhls
turlult?" An excited messenger, all ou0
of breath with the speed said to him:
oO7r army is defeated. The sacred chest,
called the Ark. is captured, and your sons
are dead on the field" No wonder, the
father tainted and expired The domes-
tfc +ra~adv in which these two sons were
+he rraredians had finished its fifth and
last act.
He fell from OF the seat backward by the
side OF the gate, and his neck brake ana ne
I died. for he was an old man and heavy.
Eli had made an awful mistake in re-
card TO his children. The Bible distinctly
\ says:
His sons made themselves vile and he re-
strained them not.
Oh. the ten thousand mistakes in rearing
5 children. mistakes of parents, mistakes OF
,--,fchers in day school and Sabbath
! classes. mistakes which we all make. W Ill
J il not be useful to consider them?
This country is going to be conquered
+ hv a great army, compared with when
+ that Of Baldwin I. and Xerxes and Alex
lander and Grant and Lee, all put together,
were in numbers Insignificant. They will
/ caDt11re all the pulpits, store houses, rae
tories and halls Of legislation, all our
shiDDing. all our wealth, and all our
h0nOrs. They will take possession OF all
authority. from the United States presl-
| dencv down to the humblest constabuIary
of everything between the Atlantic and
/ Pacific oceans. They are on the march
now. and they halt neither day nor night
They will soon be here, and all the present
nctivo population of this country must
surrender and give way. l refer to the
great army of children. Whether they
shall take possession Of every thing Tor
good or for bad depends upon the style
of preparation through which they
mass on their way from cradle TO
throne. Cicoro acknowledged he kept in
his dosk a collection Of prefaces for books,
which profaces he could at any time at
tach to nnv thing he wanted to publish
for himself OF Others and all parents and
teachers havo all prepared the preface OF
every Young life under their charge, and
not onlv the preface, but the appendix
the KQlgpme Rs poem no OF Iarcei
are in our day busily engaged in discuss
ng what is the best mode Of educating
children. Before this question almost
every other dwindles into insignificance,
while dependent upon its proper solution
is the welfare of government and ages
eternal. Macauley tells Of the war which
Frederick II. made against Queen Maria
Theresa. And one day she appeared be-
fore the august Diet wearing mourning
for her father, and held up in her arms
before them her child, the Archduke.
/ This so wrought upon the officers and
deputies of the people that with half
drawn swords they broke forth in the war
cry:
Let rs die for our Queen, Maria Theresa
/ So, this morning, realizing that the boy
/ of to-day is TO be the ruler OF the future,
the popular sovereign, | hold him before
/ the American people to arouse their en-
thusiasm III his behalf, and to evoke their
oath for his defense, his education, and
his sublime destiny.
| propose in this discourse TO set forth
| what | consider to be some Of the errors
prevalent in the training Of children.
/ First, romark that many err in too
| great severity or too great lenency of
/ family government. Between parental
| tyranny and ruinous laxity of dis
| cipline there is a medium. Sometimes the
| father errs on one side and the mother on
the other side. Good family government
Is all-important. Anarchy and misrule
in the domestic circle is the fOrerunner Of
anarchy and misruIe in the State. What
a repulsive spectacle is a home without
order or discipline; disObedience, and i'm
pudence, and anger, and falsehood lifting
their horrid front in the place which
should be cOnsecrated to all that is holy,
and peaceful, and beautiful. In the at
tempt to avoid all this, and bring the
children under proper laws and regula-
tion5, parents have sometimes carried
themselves with great vigor. John How
ard who was merciful to the prisons and
lazarettos, was merciless in the treatment
of his children.
| In some families all the discipline is
cOncentred upon one child's head. If any
thing is done wrong the suppOsition is that
George did il. He broke the latch. He
left open the gate. He hacked the ban
nisters. lie whitfield sticks on the car
pets. And George shall be the scapegoat
for all domestic misunderstanding and
suspicious. If things get wrong in the
culinary department, in comes the mother
and says, angrily: "Where is George?'
If business matters are perplexing at the
store, in comes the father at night and
says angrily, "Where is GeOrge?p In
many a household there is such one
singled out for suspicion and castigation.
All the sweet flowers of his soul blasted
under this perpetual northeast storm. He
curses the day in which he was born.
Safer in a Bethlehem manger among cat
tie and camels with gentle Mary TO vatc,